Brewer couple celebrates their 70 wedding anniversary

BREWER, Maine (NEWS CENTER)-- Jean and Lawrence Lyford celebrated their 70 wedding anniversary Tuesday, and they are just as in love now as the day they said "I do."

Jean Lyford said, "We always went every place together; went to football games, basketball games..."

"Went to football games? I played football!" said her husband,Bud Lyford.

The Lyfords, Jean and Lawrence, better known as Bud, met in the beginning of high school in 1936 and have been together ever since. They got married seventy years agoTuesday, March 18in 1944. The two were only in college when Bud asked Jean to marry him one Christmas.

"We sat together in a special room. I had a diamond ring, and I asked her then if she would be willing to be my wife. And she accepted," said Bud.

"I've got my diamond he gave me and I've got my wedding ring and I've never had my wedding ring off," said Jean.

But by that time the nation was heavily involved in to World War Two. And like many men, Bud couldn't avoid the draft.

"Bud went to the university of Maine, but of course the army caught up with him. So, he had to quit Maine and go in the army," said Jean.

That's whenshe almost lost the love of her life. While in Germany, Bud was seriously wounded by exploding shrapnel. He crawled into a cellar and hid from German soldiers just in time.

"They went right by me and never saw me and left, or I would not be here today," Bud said.

Bud made it home safely. Back to his wife and his brand new baby girl. He wrote to Jean every day while overseas, and she still has all those love letters.

When asked what makes a marriage last for70 years, Jean and Bud knew exactly what to say.

"Well personally I think that we just were meant to be," said Jean.

"Love. Love. Love does it. We love each other immensely. And always have," said Bud.